Deptford Lounge 2016: 4 – 9 July

Welcome Home.

A festival of arts and wellbeing events brought to you by NOW Live Events

We are back at Deptford Lounge with a programme of arts and wellbeing activities for all ages. Our events stimulate the senses and lighten the mind with some of the UK’s most inspiring artists and speakers.

This year we are focusing on ‘home’; what home really means to you, how you might feel more at home in yourself, and how we can take these feelings with us everywhere we go.

On offer will be activities spanning live literature, craft, poetry, visual arts, spoken word, mindfulness meditation, wellbeing events, workshops for families and children and more.

‘(NOW Live Events) rid us of the myriad modern-day distractions that stop us from embracing the fullness of the present moment…using unconventional artistic methods.’ – The Independent

How to Take Part

There will be daily FREE activities that do not require tickets. Other events are ticketed and can be booked online here with full price or concession or bought on the door, subject to availability. Certain events also have a discounted family ticket for 3–4 people. This year we are also introducing a festival day pass for £15 (£12 for concessions), so if you’re planning to spend the day with us, you can save up to half price.

Please click on the title of each event for more details on our collaborators.

Downloadable Programme

Click the images above for a downloadable guide of the full WELCOME HOME programme.

Schedule of Events

All Week (Free)

Monday 4 – Saturday 9 July, all day

One Pot per Day: Film & Exhibition – Kate Keara PelenVisual artist Kate Keara Pelen sustained a daily creative practice throughout 2015, producing a soft hand-made vessel using simple crochet techniques over 365 days. Come and find out more about the mindful creative project which provided an artistic outlet and purpose for Kate throughout last year.

FREE – All ages

Monday 4 – Saturday 9 July, all day

Dream Home – Jo Hunter & 64 Million Artists64 Million Artists will be setting a daily creative challenge in Deptford Lounge for festival participants to complete. Come and get creative, while exploring the edges of your imagination and your artistic skills!

Monday 4 – Saturday 9 July, 9:30am each day

A Poem a Day – Simon MoleA free daily audio broadcast of a mindfulness poem, read by local poet and spoken word artist Simon Mole. Let your mind wander freely as you sit and hear beautiful words, taking a moment to enjoy the imagery and language.

FREE – All ages

Monday 4 – Saturday 9 July, 8:30am – 5.30pm

BeBoxBeBox is a local multimedia space for meditation offering a series of guided meditation sessions designed to bring stillness and balance into your life. Enter the space and shift your state!

FREE – Ages 7+

Monday 4 July

8:30am – 9:30am

Homecoming Yoga – Amisha GhadialiJoin us for an awakening yoga flow where we connect and align our heart, body and mind as we begin to explore the theme of feeling more rooted in our bodies.The session will start with gentle poses, moving into strong, empowering ones and ending with deep, relaxing poses. Suitable for beginners.

11:00am – 12:30pm

Mindful Movement for Everyday – Dr. Tamara RussellIn this event, leading mindfulness trainer, neuroscientist and martial arts expert, Dr. Tamara Russell, will guide you in the exploration of mindfulness and movement, giving you tips on how to integrate a strong, purposeful and non-judgemental awareness of the present moment into every move and moment of your day.

2:00pm – 3:15pm

At Home in Ourselves: Using the Feldenkrais Method – Rachel BriscoeRachel Briscoe will use the Feldenkrais Method to help you become aware of yourself and the ways that you move, sit or lie that could be tweaked to make you more at ease in your body. Using gentle movements, you will be able to unravel body habits and explore ways of doing things differently to find more ease, comfort and body awareness.

3:45pm – 5:00pm

Creativity Unleashed: Your Dream Home – Jo Hunter & 64 Million ArtistsThis is a chance for adults and children alike to explore home as a starting point for their own expression, to get stuck in and have a go at taking their imagination to another level while expressing their own unique creative flair. This workshop will involve painting, drawing, making, writing or whatever works for you.

TICKETED – £4, £2.50 concessions, £8 family ticket, or as part of your daily / festival pass5+ (under 10s accompanied by an adult)

Tuesday 5 July

11:00am – 12:30pm

Mindfulness On The Go – Mel Sutton & Andrew StuckCome and explore your neighbourhood and the impact it has on you with group facilitator and natural health consultant, Mel Sutton, and her mindful walking partner, Andrew Stuck. Walking with purpose and awareness, we will consider how our surroundings affect out mental and emotional experience.

2:30pm – 3:30pm

Wellness; a human right or a human luxury? Jana Stefanovska, director of Welcome Home festival, will guide us through a variety of techniques to tap into our innate creativity, awareness and presence, allowing us to be still while in the city anytime, anywhere.

3:45pm – 5:00pm

Mindful Doodling for Families – Wendy Ann GreenhalghJoin creative mindfulness teacher and educator, Wendy Ann Greenhalgh, for this fun and relaxing family workshop. All ages alike, we’ll be doodling together and discovering how drawing helps us to be more in touch with our bodies and more peaceful in our heads.

6:30pm – 7:45pm

Mindfulness and the Art of Urban Living – Adam FordMore than fifty percent of human beings now live in towns and cities; we have become an urban species. Through mindfulness and practicing how to stay in touch with our inner worlds within the built up environments around us, we can find both peace and purpose.

Wednesday 6 July

8:30am – 9:30am

Verse Things First – Simon Mole‘Morning Pages’is a widely used practise, in which long-hand journalling at the start of each day helps to clear your mind and centre yourself. Join Simon Mole to see how first-thing-freewriting in this way can lead directly to wisdom and creativity for the day ahead.

11:00am – 12:30pm

Values: Why Do We Have them? – Nikki LevitanValues are our foundations for our life. They are at the heart of who we are and create a sense of belonging with our communities and the world around us. Learn what values are, why they are important and take a deeper look at your own values and defining them.

2:00pm – 3:15pm

Kindfulness – Shamash AlidinaMindfulness is about cultivating a friendly, warm attitude to yourself and others. It’s both a way of meditating and a way of living. In this workshop you’ll discover why the kindness element is so important and will be guided in some meditations with renowned teacher and founder of the ‘Museum Of Happiness’, Shamash Alidina.

3:45pm – 4:45pm

Play Me a Story – Laura FrancisCome and explore a traditional story together through games, imagination, movement, sound and ritual. Laura will bring the story to life and we’ll learn about the theme of ‘home’ along the way.

6:30pm – 8:00pm

How To Be Yourself – Andy Gibson / MindapplesJoin this interactive masterclass that will take you through the history of how people have made sense of their ‘selves’over the centuries, and share. Andy will share some of the psychological models that are proving effective today in understanding what makes each of us unique and individual.

Thursday 7 July

10:00am – 1:15pm

Home: A Half Day Retreat – Amisha GhadialiWhen was the last time you took the time to go on a half day retreat? No need to go into the countryside, come and do it right here in Deptford! To begin the retreat, we will consider the question, what is home? Is it the place where we live or is it a feeling within ourselves? We will explore our idea of home and the very nature of our identity through simple meditation, gentle movement and journaling with yoga teacher and author of ‘The Future is Beautiful’, Amisha Ghadiali.

TICKETED–£7, £5 concessions, or as part of your daily / festival passAges 16+

1:30pm – 3:00pm

The Write Prescription – Jackee HolderTherapeutic and expressive writing can help relieve many of our personal stresses and help to get new perspective on life challenges. In this event led by writer, life coach and inspirational speaker Jackee Holder, come armed with your writing prescription requests and have fun putting them to the test.

3:45pm – 5:15pm

ToyBox – Kamari RomeoCome and express yourself through performance, poetry, creative writing and drama with Kamari Romeo from the Barbican Junior Poets programme. We will explore the transition from primary to secondary school while connecting and having fun, thinking about belonging and new life changes.

TICKETED– £3 or £5 for 2 or more children from the same familyAges 9–11 only

6:30pm – 8:00pm

First Thursday: Haiku On Foot – Andrew StuckWalk, talk, recite and write Haiku through foot powered poems. Haiku on Foot is a free form walk in which you get to write and inspire others to write haikus; short structured poems that are just three lines long.

TICKETED – Free. All ages

Friday 8 July

8:30am – 9:30pm

Home is Where the Dance Is – Anna Marie GayleThis will be a soulful, inspiring and uplifting hour long morning session introducing the basic fundamentals of conscious movement practice. 5 Rhythms dance teacher and theatre practitioner, Anna Marie Gayle, invites you to get into your dance as the starting place and inspiration for all the action and interaction of your day.

11:00am – 12:30pm

Our Unique Creative Process – Harriet HoultThis workshop will explore what the creative process is and how it can help and inspire each of us in our daily lives. Delve into your own unique creative process individually with a variety of arts materials using therapeutic exercises.

1:00pm – 3:00pm

What’s Your Story? – Yolande AnastasiGain insight into your own inner wisdom and internal resources with drama therapist Yolande Anastasi. Regardless of what cultural background we come from, stories are profoundly important in our lives; the characters that live within our stories are alive within us, we just need to access them.

3:45pm – 5:00pm

A House Full of Stories – Mark Stevenson & Ampersand MediaBring an object that makes you think of home and together we’ll use them to create stories, songs and scenes about what it means to live where you live or where you’d like to live. This will be a fun and playful session for adults, children and families.

6:30pm – 8:00pm

Theatre from Life — The Dragon Café Theatre from Life will allow you to experience how our own rich, authentic experience can create a shared imaginary world, both exciting and empathetic. Through a combination of theatre games and improvisation techniques, we’ll populate our imaginary world together with multidimensional characters and situations, creating an original piece of theatre for wellbeing.

Saturday 9 July

Lewisham People’s Day

12:00pm – 1:00pm

Home is Where the Heart is — Lia Younes and Karen Stenning
“Home is where the heart is” and our hearts are a very special, precious place that we can carry around with us wherever we go. Inside each of us is a ‘happy place’ that we can visit whenever we seek comfort, love and serenity. You will have a chance to play around with arts and crafts together and create a precious little keepsake to take back with you as a reminder of this special place within.

FREE. Ages 5+. Under 10s must be accompanied by an adult.

1:15pm – 2:45pm

Houses of Light – Janey Moffat & Craftimation FactoryJaney Moffat from Craftimation Factory invites you to make your own ‘House of Light’whilst considering what makes you light up and what makes your house a home. What lights you up, and the people living in your home? We will create light houses together using carboard, coloured cellophane, a glue gun and other decorative items. The houses will be lit from within with LED lights. Particularly suitable for children and their families.

FREE. Ages 5+. Under 10s must be accompanied by an adult.

3:00pm – 4:15pm

Finding Your Groove – Temujin Gill & Grounded MovementMovement based session with Grounded Movement’s Temujin Gill, choreographer of the iconic NHS section of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. No dance experience needed, come as you are, unique and amazing. Join in a fun physical warm-up, and give yourself permission to play and explore moving to some seriously infectious sounds. Something for everyone from Jazz to Soul and Funk. Pick up some simple but great moves with freedom to respond to the music in your own way and share with others in an inclusive and friendly atmosphere. A wonderful opportunity to express yourself and join in some inspirational group dances.

FREE. Ages 5+. Under 10s must be accompanied by an adult.

4:30pm – 5:45pm

I Move, Therefore I Am — Kimberley PenaI Move, Therefore I am’ workshop offers an experience of relating and connection. You may want to bring a significant other with you, whether child, partner, mother, father, or friend. Alternatively, just YOU, is enough! In this safe space, we will reconnect with ourselves and each other through movement. Prepare to quiet your critical mind as you move freely, assured that there is no right or wrong way to move. The only ‘rule’ is to move as your body wants to, feels to, not how you think you have to!

FREE. Ages 11+

Join us at the Albany marquee to find out more!

Please note: This event takes place at Lewisham People’s Day, Mountsfield Park, The Lodge, Stainton Rd, Catford SE6 1AN. No booking required, just turn up. All outdoor activities/events are weather dependent and subject to change — please check up to date plans via our website and social media channels, or by contacting Box Office on the day.